My Homeskillet

Check out Lanie and I being the homeslices that we are.

This was taken in my backyward when I lived at home.

I think we were seniors in high school here. We've been friends since 7th grade, and now we're in our 30's. That's something really special and something that I really cherish.

To have a true friend for that long, someone who has seen all your ups and downs, who has seen you wear all kinds of fashion through the decades, who has gone through all the monumental first moments with you, such as:

your first kiss -wait that sounds weird. Lanie wasn't my first kiss, but she was the one I shared all the details with. Ok, maybe it wasn't my first kiss ever, but it was my first serious kiss. Or as serious as it can be behind the dugouts on the baseball fields.

your first heartbreak- dont you love how this comes right after first kiss?

first sip of alcohol-we thought we were so bad ass, sneaking warm zimas from my parents garage

first time getting grouded-and second and third and twentieth..

first time cutting class-Thank goodness for being in Drama. That worked everytime "oh, I have to go work on some scenery for the production of "Little Shop of Horrors."

first boy/girl sleeppver-Lanie's parents let us do this and I thought it was so awesome of them. We stayed up playing games, eating junk food and trying not to be the first one to fall asleep.

first time being confronted with a naked man in our quad on a Saturday afternoon-why us? And why was my first reaction to freak out and Lanie's was to laugh and point at his weiner?

first (and last) time having a gun pointed at my head- It was after our senior prom and we went to 7-11 after to get some refreshments. Lanie went in and I waited in the car with our dates. Suddenly, I was staring down the barrel of a gun. My date got out of the car (unarmed) confronted the lunatic and saved our lives. Lanie's date peed his pants. (To be fair, Lanie didn't want to go with him, she took one for the team because I wanted to go with his friend and he felt bad that his buddy didn't have a date. And we found out there was a good reason why. He showed up at Lanie's house in a shiny grey suit and broke the toilet. You're the best Lane dog!!)

first time being followed and almost run off the road by a crazy lunatic-I swear we thought he was trying to kill us. It was dark out and he kept flashing his brights while honking and hanging out the window screaming at us. Lanie was freaking out and started running red lights in the cougar with me in the passenger seat yelling "we're going to die!" and Lanie yelling "why is he trying to kill us?" After the fact, we find out it was Lanie's stupid ex boyfriend trying to be funny. It was horrifying at the time, but pretty hilarious to think back now. Lanie-remember where you drove to when we decided we need to go to the safest place possible...not the police station, but Dietrichs..lol.

first time we realized that high school over-Lanie picked me up so we could drive to our graduation together and for some reason the song we decided to make that last trip to Newport Harbort to was The Proclaimers "When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you....But I would walk 500 miles And I would walk 500 more Just to be the man who walked 1,000 miles To fall down at your door...daa raa daaa daa raa daa daa raa daaa da raa da.." Lanie painted an American flag ontop of her cap and I painted a British Flag. And I wore my 8 hole doc martins under my gown. I think Lanie wore her Converse?

First time being apart from each other-In 1993 I was in a pretty bad car accident and was rushed to ICU at Western Medical. Lanie was away at Berkeley and couldn't get down to Orange County so she would write me these awesome 5 page letters that made me feel like she was right there. And her Mom came and visited me every day. Even though I was unconcious for the most part, she would still be there and leave little notes with the nurses station for me. I will never forget that.

There are many many more, but I think you get the gist of what I'm trying to say. Lanie and I have been through a lot together, and I feel very lucky to have her in my life after all these years. We were thick as thieves and not much has changed.

Thank you Lanie, for being my homey for the past 20 years. I can't wait to see what the next 20 holds for us!